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Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Sena slams BJP’s Covid vaccine promise, calls it discrimination, attempt to divide India
Sanjay Raut, chief spokesperson for the Sena, asked the PM, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and BJP chief JP Nadda to clarify if non-BJP ruled states would be denied the Covid-19 vaccination drive
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised free coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccination for the people of Bihar in its election manifesto, the ally-turned-rival Shiv Sena on Friday launched a scathing attack asking if it is a new political system to divide the country on the basis of a life-saving vaccine.
Sanjay Raut, chief spokesperson for the Sena and a Rajya Sabha (RS) member, asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan and BJP chief JP Nadda to clarify if non-BJP ruled states would be denied the Covid-19 vaccination drive.
Also read: Free vaccine promise may not violate code, say former CECs
“Does it mean that a state, where there is no BJP government, won’t get the Covid-19 vaccine? JP Nadda, Dr Harsh Vardhan, and the PM should clarify on this. The other day I heard Modi ji’s speech, where he said that the government is working on how to deliver vaccines, whenever they are available, to everybody in the country at their doorstops. But the BJP appears to have come up with a new political system, where vaccines will be only given to those who vote for the party,” Raut told media persons on Friday.
BJP’s poll promise has attracted widespread opposition from a cross-section of parties.
Raut also took umbrage at “cruel discrimination” and an attempt to divide the nation.
“Earlier, there was a slogan ‘Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom’. And now the slogan has been turned on its head as we will give you a vaccine, if you vote for us. Such type of discrimination is cruel. Is this an attempt to divide the country in the name of vaccines? First, divisions were made in the name of caste and religion and now this. This is out of line,” Raut alleged.
Shiv RS member Priyanka Chaturvedi has also been targeting the BJP over its poll promise.
In a series of tweets, Chaturvedi said, “Shouldn’t the Covid-19 vaccine be a part of a universal immunisation programme? Will vaccines be decided on the basis of BJP and non-BJP ruled states? To make this an election related issue over a humanitarian crisis is immoral and unethical,” she tweeted.
Chaturvedi, the deputy leader of the Sena in the RS and a party spokesperson, said such an announcement should raise an alarm and state governments should ask the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) to share how it would ensure equitable distribution of vaccines across the country.
